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Abstract : |
An oceanographic monitoring program of the western Arabian Gulf has been under way since 1986 as a joint project between the Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco) and King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals.The program objectives include the study of coastal and offshore oceanographic processes, the development of a baseline oceanographic data set, an investigation of the effect of development on the environment, and the acquisition of site-specific oceanographic and meteorological data for cost-effective offshore operations and construction. Oceanographic studies in this region are of particular interest because of the extremely high air and water temperatures and salinities and the complexity of the tidal current regime.The western Arabian Gulf is characterized by shallow coastal bays that exhibit temperatures and hypersalinities extreme even for the Arabian Gulf.This environmental monitoring program resulted in the first extensive baseline oceanographic data set for currents, temperature, salinity, and dissolved oxygen in this area.The concurrent meteorological data set includes wind speed and direction, air temperature, relative humidity, precipitation, and total solar radiation. This paper provides an overview of the operational components of the project and addresses, in particular, the oceanographic monitoring program, the instruments deployed, the data acquisition and quality control procedures, and the envisaged uses of the data end products., |
